Control
by fingers-falling-upwards
Summary: When Sora wakes up with blond hair one day, he starts to wonder who is in control.


Umm. Hi. Yeah, this is really awkward for me. Because I am up to my elbows in stories. One which has reached the 100,000 word mark and has quite the following . . . However, I've been sitting on this one for a while and I would really love it if you would read it.

Kingdom Hearts is one of my favorite games ever, so I wanted to write a story for it. So far no real romance, if people review a certain way, I will change it.

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Chapter one: Entryway.

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Gold sifted through the layers of dust that were kicked up from the old trail. It was nearing evening and the dusky sun signified the end of another day, and the beginning of another night. The excessive foliage lined the path as their green leaves were sucking up the final rays of sunlight.

Sora paused his walking to glance back at the setting sun.

The orangish golden hue was reminiscent of another time; another place.

He sucked a deep breath and closed his eyes. He could practically see the tall clock, it's wide, weather-beaten face a constant and its reassuring tolls that could be heard in every street. Below it sat the town, forever bathed in autumnal light. He could smell the train's smoke as it puttered into the station. The piquant taste of the powder blue salty-sweet treat was ingrained in his soul through every memory it carried and everything it symbolized.

Opening his eyes, he peered back, the sun blinding him, and engulfing his figure.

This is the time when our world's touch, he thought.

Buried deep in every world, there had to be something tying them together, something that no one would notice unless they were looking for it; a piece of every world reflected upon others.

"This is ours," he mumbled.

Deep within himself, he felt warmth flicker up and he knew that his other half agreed with him.

He stood in the middle of the road, watching as the sun dipped below the horizon. It looked like if he swum out far enough and dove deep enough, he could catch the sun, for surely it was just waiting below the surface of the shifting waters. He knew this wasn't true, but it always looked that way.

"_Don't we have somewhere to be?"_ An amused voice asked, making him jump.

"You're right! Ah! I gotta go! My mom's going to be so angry with me if I'm late again!" he answered aloud as he scrambled up the road.

Ever since he had returned home, things had been surreal. Adjusting to living normal, non-combative life where his biggest worry would be homework and whether his parents would ground him for grades was a long lengthy process. Sora was just realizing how true it was that the world doesn't change, the people in it do.

His friends had all matured and changed in ways that still surprised him, even after being back for a month.

Tidus and Wakka, his ever playful friends had taken some serious turns, apparently training themselves to be professional blitzball players. Any free time they had left after school and homework was pretty much consumed by their singular goal, aided by a palpable level of intense concentration and determination. Selphie, had grown closer to Kairi in his absence, and through that, though his exposure to her was limited, he noticed that the majority of her thoughts gravitated around boys. Whereas before she complained about Tidus and Wakka to a point that was enough to drive any adult crazy.

Though one thing was constant, the trio was still extremely good friends, and they received Sora and Riku back with open arms.

He knew that he could rely on them.

Reaching the faded green deck that he was gradually reacquainting himself with, he stepped quickly but quietly through the door. Shutting it silently, (or as silently as he could with the old creak that never seemed to go away,) he dashed past the family room and was just on his way up the stairs when-

"Sora! Where do you think you're going, mister?" His mother called from the kitchen. He winced and backtracked.

The absolute hardest thing to adjust to was having parents again who worried about where he was and what he was doing and how he was sleeping and what he was eating and-

The sort of things he'd been managing himself the entire trip.

Not to say that he didn't feel a level of soft joy knowing that he was with them again, but still, he had never realized how overbearing they were.

Walking through the family room that adjoined the kitchen, he approached the waiting figure of his mother with a sheepish smile.

"Sorry I'm late," He said sincerely. Having a curfew was one of the drawbacks he had decided.

She huffed a little, hands on her hips, a wooden spoon covered in what looked and smelled like a mushroom soup of some kind. Mmmmm.

He wondered if she made enough for there to be leftovers for tomorrow. Though even if she did, it was likely that his dad would take a canister of it to his work for lunch. Darn. Well, maybe it would be a little awkward (and sneaky) on his part, but he could take some to school. Wake up earlier than his dad and then smuggle some himself, and then when they asked where the leftovers went he'd pretend to be as clueless as the-

"Sora. Sora! SORA! Are you even listening to me?!" She asked with a frown.

"Um yes?" he responded, oblivious to the fact she had been talking to him.

"And what was I saying?"

He paused for a moment; panic setting in, before he could enter the throws of full on freaking-out, a quiet voice at the edge of his consciousness liltingly told him the answer.

"You said that I needed to be more responsible and that I should try and be a role model on the future for Delilah," He responded, regurgitating the information that the voice fed him.

His mom looked disbelieving before a wide smile spread across her face.

"Thank you for paying attention honey."

He winced inwardly in a guilty way. It wasn't him that was paying attention after all. But he really didn't need to give them a reason to ground him. Especially because it wasn't only his rights they were restricting now.

"_Thanks," _He told the voice with a smile.

"_It's not like I'm going to let us get grounded again. Last time we couldn't see Kairi and Namine for two whole weeks," _The voice echoed back and Sora smiled.

"_You're the best!"_

"_I know, just try not to be such a bonehead all the time," _The voice responded with a smirk.

"_Hey! Am not!"_ Sora replied in a pouty way. Laughter came bouncing in from every side.

"Dinner's almost ready so you can just have a seat, if you want," His mother told him as she went back to the kitchen.

Sora didn't realize how tired he was until he sat down. School was exhausting! Being the legendary Keyblade master was something that just came naturally to Sora, school you needed to put in so much effort and sometimes it didn't matter how much work you put in, you could still fail.

Thank everything that he had someone like Roxas to help him plow through it. After all, not every sixteen-year-old had a Nobody to check over their English tests or go up to the board and answer spelling questions Sora thought were "unpossible."

"Sora, hun' were your supplementary classes any better today?" She asked concern evident in her voice as she clanked around in the kitchen.

Sora's face hit the table with an audible thud.

"That bad huh?" She replied sympathetically.

He rolled his head on the table for an answer.

After returning back, they had been given assessments for what grade they should be placed in. Roxas, who had been in school for part of the time Sora had been asleep, had proved vital. Sora didn't want to be moved into a different grade without Riku and Kairi! So while he passed most everything off with satisfactory marks, (Roxas was naturally studious,) he flat out failed the math portion. Apparently that was something Roxas had always struggled with. Funnily enough, it was one of the few subjects that Sora excelled at. However when you miss two years of the subject, having a knack for it just doesn't cut it.

After some serious begging, pleading and puppy-dog looks, he negotiated to take some remedial classes to rectify the gap that had appeared.

Riku had similar problems but he managed to charm the lady to do what he wanted.

"_Stupid Riku," _He thought with a smile.

A sudden move startled him out of his deep thoughts. He felt something reaching towards him from behind and he reacted accordingly. Flinging himself out of his chair, tiredness forgotten, he executed a flip over the table onto the counter. Sora whipped around to face his enemy and saw-

Dae, his mom, wide-eyed, her arms stretching out in front of her towards the spot where Sora was sitting just moments ago. She had come from behind to give him a hug and probably some comforting words.

"_Smooth_,"Roxas thought, letting out a low whistle mentally. He was very glad he stopped the Keyblade from summoning.

Sora moaned and cursed in his mind. Such an idiotic move!

"S- sorry, you scared me." Sora explained lamely

"Where did you learn to do that?" She asked softly, shock still evident on her face. Ever since Sora came back there were some moments when he would do something unexpectedly and she would turn around and look at him like he was a stranger.

Like she was looking through him.

It kind of hurt in a way, but it was his own fault for not having the strength to tell her what happened. To avoid the subject, he and Riku invented some cock-and-bull story about how their raft got carried off in a storm and they had unwillingly been dragged along and ended up getting stranded on a deserted island.

They managed to build a smaller boat to bring Kairi back, but there was another storm and she hit her head and couldn't remember where they were. It was only through lucky circumstances that they survived and made their way back home.

Frankly, Sora was surprised it had managed to keep up this far.

"Uhh Riku taught me," Sora said a little too quickly, his mom noticed but said nothing, letting the subject drop. It was at moments like these that she simply didn't know what to say. Turning around slowly, so as not to scare him, she went back into the kitchen to make sure the soup wouldn't burn.

Had she turned around, she would have seen her son wincing.

Now look at what he'd done. What was wrong with him? She looked like she was scared of her own son. . .

"Hello family!" A voice greeted jovially, and it was met my mirroring responses.

"Hello Dad!" Sora cheered, dragging himself from his unhappy thoughts.

"Mmmm what's cookin'?" Milo, the man of the house asked as he stepped through the garage.

"Mushroom soup," A quiet voice answered from behind the couch. He jumped, but managed to reign in any other reflexes that might bring up some more unwanted looks and questions.

Peeking just above the couch was a mop of reddish-brown hair that belonged to a little girl of no more than five years of age. She had a very flat look on her face, like Sora's very presence was mildly aggravating.

Her name was Delilah and she was his new sister.

"How long have you been on the couch?!" He asked with a start.

She shrugged in response and pulled herself up onto the chair beside him.

Well that was thoroughly creepy. Then again, with her addiction to television, he probably should have figured she'd be planted on the couch.

They sat awkwardly for a few moments as their parents were bustling around putting the finishing touches on the food.

Starting a conversation with her was like throwing water on a rock, it just didn't do anything.

"_Actually, technically speaking, if you did it consistently over a sustained period of time the rock would eventually erode-" Roxas pointed out factually._

"_Dude, that is so not the point!" Then Sora paused._

"_Or is it?" He pondered for a moment over the weird analogy._

"_Are you saying that if I keep trying to talk to her, eventually she won't be able to resist and she'll melt and turn into rock stuff?"_

"_Sans the '__rock stuff'__ though really, it's only true for rocks, there is no sure-fire reason that would work on people but-"_

Already deciding what his next move would be, he ignored the voice in his head as it continued to trail off.

"Hey Deli, wanna see a magic trick?" He asked her with what he hoped was a coercing smile.

"No," She deadpanned and he pouted.

Meet Delilah. (Or as Sora preferred to call her, Deli.) The grimmest and most realistic child Sora had ever met. Apparently, after his parents had forgotten about him, they felt an empty spot in their lives and they wondered what it was. Eventually they reached the conclusion that it was because they never took the time to have children. (To their remembrance.) After a harrowing time trying to get pregnant, they settled on adopting.

This is where Delilah came in. Her mom was a single mother and she died in childbirth. Her last guardian was a business woman who honestly didn't have the time to be a proper mother with all the work she did, and she practically let the TV raise Delilah. By the time social serviced caught on, the damage was already done and the results were a very flat and skeptical girl who had long since bored of children's shows and only watched the news, National Geographic and MTV.

This, most would agree, was terrible enough, but to Sora the most atrocious thing in the whole thing was that she didn't believe in magic.

What kind of world was this? The kind of world where little girls didn't believe in magic. Heck, Sora was sixteen and he still believed in magic. (Doing it may have had something to do with that belief.)

Determined to correct this horrendous tragedy, he set out to prove to her that magic existed.

The only flaw in his plan being that he had been strictly forbidden to use his magic since coming home. He had even promised the king he wouldn't . . . No matter though, he was sure that there were other ways to prove it. (Right?)

"Come onnnnnnn! You know you wanna . . ." He tried to make it as appealing as possible.

"Stop chastising her," His mother warned him sternly as she set down the pot on the table, after pushing Sora's face off.

Sora stopped and looked around seriously concerned as the other members took seats around the table.

"When did I take a vow of chastity?" He asked curiously. Had he forgotten that?

His mother and father both laughed as Delilah just rolled her eyes at him. Inwardly Roxas was smothering a laugh as he tried to explain.

"_You are such a bonehead . . . ChastiSING. It means to bother," _Roxas explained.

"_How was I supposed to know that? It's not like a read the dictionary or something,"_ Sora said frowning.

"_Hey! It's not like I read the dictionary either!" _Roxas informed him.

"_Well that's different; you're Roxas," _He said, like it explained everything.

After a nice family dinner and burning a few hours talking, his parents asked him if he would mind putting Delilah to bed.

He glanced at the child nervously. Honestly, he wasn't sure how to deal with her. He liked her well enough, (figuring he'd fix the magic problem sooner or later,) and he knew that he wasn't exactly her favorite person. It was also apparent that she wasn't too keen on sibling bonding.

Though judging by the looks on his parents faces, this was exactly what they had in mind.

Letting out a sigh, he agreed and followed her through the hallways to her bedroom that had at one time been his old bedroom.

When he first saw the change, he wasn't so sure what to think about it. It was as though he had been replaced or something. He knew he couldn't blame them though, they didn't have their memories and they knew something was missing; they addressed the problem the best way they knew how.

In a way, Deli was another reminder of how important he was to his parents and how much they loved him.

He waited patiently for her to change, her being more than capable of dealing with the buttons and entered only when she grudgingly allowed him in.

Pink glow-in-the-dark stars decorated the ceiling; a magenta pillow was thrown across the baby-blue bed-spread. The window was open, as usual, due to the incredible heat. Clad in pastel-pink pajama's that didn't match her flat expression she climbed into her bed and stared at him expectantly.

"_Oh man. What should I do?" _He asked Roxas, the unyielding stare of the child unnerving him.

"_Why don't you read her a bed-time story?" _Roxas supplied helpfully.

"_That's a good idea!" _He jumped up.

"Want me to read you a story?" He asked and she nodded her head.

Quickly scanning around the room he noticed a distinct lack of picture books; something he planned to quickly rectify.

"I'll be right back!" He scrambled from the room, up the stairs and into his own room, which was actually the remodeled attic. Immediately he attacked his toy box with fever, tossing things carelessly out of it as he went. After a few minutes of frustrated searching and several broken toys he dashed down the stairs, past his amused looking parents and back into her room.

"Sorry, I just remembered a book that I think you'll love. It's called "Green Eggs and Ham," and it's by Dr. Suess and- . . . where are you going?" Sora asked puzzled, as she pulled herself off of the bed and walked over to her bookshelf. After perusing for a few moments, she pulled a thick volume out and tottered back to Sora.

Placing the book on the bed first, she then proceeded to pull herself up. Sora picked the book up curiously.

"'Dr. Seuss: A Biography,' by Stephen Hawking?" He asked.

She nodded her head and laid back in waiting.

He stared at her, blinking for a straight ten minutes before recovering himself.

"Are you serious?" He asked and when she nodded her head he asked if she was certain that she didn't want to read his book. He even showed her the brightly colored pictures to entice her. No dice. She firmly gestured to her own selection.

Pulling the cover open with a small sigh, he was accosted by big words in long and complicated looking sentences.

"_Umm, wanna lend a hand here, buddy?" _He asked, and was rewarded with a tingling sensation in the lips and throat.

Glancing down at the first page with new-found confidence he began to read in a smooth tone with no halting.

If Delilah noticed the slight change in voice from a darker tone to a lighter tenor, she didn't say anything. A sparkle appeared in her eye as she watched him, her curiosity and interest finally aroused. There wasn't a chance to say anything, because the book quickly accomplished its goal of sending her to dreamland.

Feeling the sensation ebb away, Sora rose, smiled and sent a mental high-five to his other half.

"Maybe we should do this more often, I feel all awesome and stuff! Like I just killed a huge heartless or something."

Roxas sweat-dropped at the comparison of putting his somewhat difficult sister to bed and slaying gigantic monsters, really, Sora was one of a kind.

"_It's just a sign of what a good brother you are_," Roxas commented with a smile.

Sora frowned.

"No, it's a sign of what good brothers WE are," He corrected, congratulating Roxas and himself.

Roxas felt a small degree of warmth spread through him.

"_That's right. This is my sister too,_" He thought

Rubbing his neck, Sora decided to call it an early night; he had another day of school and remedial classes to worry about tomorrow.

"Geez that book about put me too sleep too," He complained.

"_I thought it was pretty interesting," _Roxas informed him.

"You would," Sora joked.

Telling his parents a quick "goodnight," they responded warmly, while exchanging secretive pleased smiles. (Not as secretive as you guys think! Sora railed) He trudged wearily up the stairs, changing into his nightwear slowly and clumsily, he then flopped onto the bed.

He lay on the bed, fighting off the sandman as he mentally tried to sort through the things he needed to do for tomorrow. As much as he would love to concede defeat and flop over on his side, he knew that if he didn't get it all sorted now, tomorrow morning would be a mess.

"_Let's see, I have to talk to Mr. Jay and get that extra worksheet, and I need to ask him if he doesn't mind giving me an extension for that essay we're supposed to write. He should right? I mean I wasn't even there to read Julius Cheeser!"_

"_It's Caeser and yeah, he probably should."_

"_Whatever. Hopefully I can finish my math worksheet before school or something."_

"_Don't forget, you promised to meet Kairi, Riku and Namine in the courtyard before school!" Roxas reminded him._

"_Oh yeah. Dang, this is going to be a tight one tomorrow," Sora commented._

"_When isn't it?" Roxas commented, referring to his other half's tendency to cut things close._

_Sora snorted lightly, already, a veil of sleep falling over his mind._

"_And if you had your way we'd be an hour early for everything,"_

"_Better than being late."_

"_Less funer than being late._

"_Funer isn't a word."_

"_I know."_

"_I know you know."_

_It was weird arguing with himself._

Finally satisfied that he had everything he needed arranged mentally, he allowed himself to drift off to sleep with a small goodbye to his other half, knowing that he was prepared for tomorrow.

No amount of planning could prepare him for the moment when he stepped into the mirror realized that his hair was blond.

Familiar blond.

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